A latent elastic film laminate is provided including a film predominantly comprising olefin elastomers. The film is stretched and maintained in a stretched state in order to impart the desired level of latent elasticity such that the conditioned film laminate will shrink upon activation, such as by heating. The latent elastic film laminate can be advantageously used in the manufacture of various elasticated articles, including absorbent personal care articles, by activating the latent elasticity after attachment to the article and thereby shirring and elasticizing components to which the film laminate is attached.

Methods for producing spatial objects are disclosed. The methods generally include printing a spatial object, in an amorphous phase, using a three-dimensional (3D) printer and a printing material that consists essentially of polyaryletherketones. The methods further entail placing the spatial object in a container and submerging the spatial object in a suitable charging material. Next, vibrations are applied to the container that includes the spatial object and charging material. The container, charging material, and spatial object are then heated until the spatial object transitions into a semi-crystalline phase (at which point the spatial object can be removed from the container and charging material).

Methods and processes are provided by which inhibited-crystallization polymers may be employed as feedstock materials in thermoplastic extrusion-type additive manufacturing systems. Counteracting the tendency of such polymers to uncontrolledly settle into an amorphous state upon cooling under typically used conditions, techniques are disclosed for controlling process temperatures, exposure times and feed rates to produce parts with uniform crystallinity, high mechanical strength and efficient throughput.

A method includes injection molding a preform using a two phase injection system having a first phase in which a material is injected into the preform and a second phase in which the material is injected into the preform. The preform is disposed in a mold. The preform is blow molded into an intermediate article. The intermediate article is trimmed to form a finished container. The first phase includes injecting a material into the preform to form a single layer of the preform and the second phase includes injecting the material to form inner and outer layers and an intermediate layer between the inner and outer layers. The inner and outer layers include the material and the intermediate layer includes at least one additive. Finished containers are disclosed.

A semi-crystalline blended polymer useful for additive manufacturing is comprised of an amorphous thermoplastic polymer and a thermoplastic semi-crystalline polymer, each of the polymers being essentially miscible in the other and being blended at a weight ratio of amorphous polymer/semi-crystalline polymer of greater that 1 to about 20. The semi-crystalline blended polymer displays a DSC melt peak enthalpy of at least about 3 joules/g. The semi-crystalline polymer may be made by blending the aforementioned polymers at the weight ratio and subject to heating between the melt temperature of the semi-crystalline polymer and the glass transition temperature of the amorphous polymer. The semi-crystalline blended polymer may revert to essentially an amorphous polymer when additive manufactured by fusing layers of said polymer powders together.

The invention relates to a method for forming a three-dimensional object by fused filament fabrication comprising the step of selectively dispensing a polymer composition containing a semi-crystalline copolyamide in accordance with the shape of a portion of a three-dimensional object, characterized that the semi-crystalline copolyamide comprises: a) At least 70 wt. % of aliphatic monomeric units derived from i. Aminoacid A, or ii. diamine B and diacid C, and b) At least 0.5 wt. % of further monomeric units derived from a cyclic monomer, wherein wt. % is with respect to the total weight of the semi-crystalline copolyamide. The invention relates also relates to objects attainable by this method and to the use of the said semi-crystalline copolyamide in fused filament fabrication.

A pre-preg product, such as a tape or sheet suitable for forming a composite having reinforcement fibers and a liquid crystal thermoset (LCT) precursor is provided. Further aspects of the invention are directed to a method for preparation of the pre-preg product and to composite products based on the pre-preg product.

An injection-molded preform for manufacturing plastic containers, for example plastic bottles, in a stretch blow molding process is disclosed. The preform can have an essentially elongated preform body, whose one longitudinal end is formed closed. On an opposite longitudinal end, the preform body is connected to a neck section that is provided with a pour opening and whose outer wall has a connector to make an interlocking connection with a closure that is equipped with corresponding engagement. The neck section has at least one constriction that extends all the way around and has a wall thickness of between 0.4 mm and 0.8 mm. The injection-molded plastic material exists at least on the at least one constriction in a state that is highly oriented and at least partially crystalline, due to an injection-molding process.

A method for preparing a high quality thermoplastic prepreg, includes: laminating a thermoplastic resin film having a crystallization degree in a range of 1 to 20% on at least one surface of a matrix fiber; and heating the laminate to a higher temperature than a melting point of the film, then, pressing the same. The method uniformly impregnates a matrix fiber with a thermoplastic resin, has a short curing cycle in the formation, and involves no random modification in alignment of fibers in the matrix fiber due to a low crystallization degree of the impregnated thermoplastic resin, thereby increasing rigidity of a formed product and enabling reduction of thickness. Thus produced prepreg has a low weight variation per unit area.

A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an additive manufacturing system, which includes providing a part material that compositionally has one or more semi-crystalline polymers and one or more secondary materials that are configured to retard crystallization of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers, where the one or more secondary materials are substantially miscible with the one or more semi-crystalline polymers. The method also includes melting the part material in the additive manufacturing system, forming at least a portion of a layer of the three-dimensional part from the melted part material in a build environment, and maintaining the build environment at an annealing temperature that is between a glass transition temperature of the part material and a cold crystallization temperature of the part material.